In Row Over Ex Soldier's Suicide, Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal Detained

New Delhi: Twice today - in the afternoon and then again in the evening- opposition leader Rahul Gandhi was detained by the Delhi police as he tried to meet with the family of the army veteran who committed suicide allegedly over an insufficient pension. "Did I make a mistake by offering condolences to the family?" asked  Mr Gandhi after he was freed at night.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had also been detained for nearly five hours after he tried to meet the former serviceman's relatives at a police station where they had been kept, allegedly for hours.
Mr Kejriwal was later taken to the RK Puram police station, where Delhi minister Gopal Rai was also detained. He was released close to midnight.

The death of Subedar Ram Kishen Grewal, 65, who drank poison at a government building on Tuesday has corralled opposition leaders into attacking the government for failing to implement the One-Rank-One-Pension (OROP) scheme.

The OROP program is to ensure equalize pensions for all servicemen who served at the same rank and for the same amount of time.  The government approved of the new policy last year, but it has yet to be correctly implemented, say army officers.

Mr Gandhi was in the afternoon not allowed to meet Subedar Grewal's relatives at the hospital where his body was kept. The Congress Vice-President was detained at a police station, released, and then detained again when he tried to enter another police station where the former serviceman's son, Jaswant Grewal, had been moved, along with other family members, allegedly for protesting at the hospital over the OROP scheme.

In a scrum of cameras, Mr Gandhi was brought to the police station in the evening on a bus with Congress cohorts including Jyotiradtiya Scindia and Sheila Dikshit. He was freed at 8.15 pm, and said the government must apologise to the Subedar's relatives for detaining them "on a day that was the hardest for them".

In the afternoon, Mr Gandhi was filmed on a cellphone rebuking the police. "Have you no shame," Mr Gandhi said to the cops, asking them how they could justify action against the son of an army veteran fighting for his rights.

The Delhi Police tweeted that it was forced to act when leaders ignored orders to move away from the Ram Manohar Lohia (RML)  Hospital. "Medical services got severely affected and orderliness deteriorated," the police claimed, adding that patients' safety was at risk.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that "the police will do what it has to".